The Grown-Up's Guide to Running Away from Home, Second Edition: Making a New Life Abroad (10 page)

Look for job openings available for English speakers at resorts or tour companies. Check local bulletin boards such as those found in grocery stores, lodgings such as youth hostels (which, despite their name, house travelers of any age), and English-language bookstores. Check the classifieds in your destination newspapers.

One enterprising woman we met in a restaurant in the Algarve had sent her resume to a list of prestigious Relais et Châteaux hotels found throughout the world. She ended up with two offers, one in Portugal and the other in Switzerland. When she tired of the Algarve, she planned to move on.

If you’re serious about teaching English, I’d recommend that you take a Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) course. The certificate provides the credentials that make you desirable in the professional schools and institutes. TESL courses are offered through some universities, specialized language training schools, and even online.

If you merely want to supplement your income with some part-time teaching here and there, you may not need a formal TESL course. One solution is to get training locally and less expensively through volunteer service. Volunteer to teach English in the United States for a year or more before your departure. Literacy
Volunteers of America, for one, provides training for free, though they require you to purchase the materials, which cost approximately $35. The materials are then yours, and they form a good basis for lesson plans. Having the course provides you with the confidence to go out and find students.

English schools are prevalent in the Far East, especially in Japan. English teachers are used for company employees, in schools, and for individual tutoring. U.S. English is preferred in many areas of the Far East, though British English is often preferred in Europe and Hong Kong.

If you’re already a teacher in the States, check for teacher exchange programs, or apply for jobs overseas in international or military schools. Some contacts: International School Services, 15 Roszel Road, PO Box 5910, Princeton, NJ 08543; telephone (609) 452-0990. The Department of Defense operates educational programs for dependents of military personnel; Department of Defense Education Activity, Attn: Teacher Recruitment, 4040 North Fairfax Dr., Arlington, VA 22203-1634; telephone (703) 588-3934. A good overall source for government teaching programs, assistantships, fellowships, and teacher exchange programs can be found at the official job site of the federal government,
www.usajobs.gov
.

Publishers and publicity houses need English speakers to edit books, brochures, and newsletters, usually in technical fields, such as computer science. You’ll need to know the local language, though it works better if you work in a team with someone who knows the idioms in the language and can translate it roughly, after which you polish it into good English.

If you have the skills to restore antiques, make puppets, knit, crochet, do hand-tinted photographs, or draw portraits of people or views of
popular tourist sites, you may be able to sell your products locally at a fair or market, or through word of mouth.

Bob and Anne fell in love with the Algarve and moved permanently seven years ago. However, the place has become more popular than when they first moved there, and prices have risen. They went through their retirement funds faster than planned. Now they’re working in part-time jobs they enjoy, Anne at a local radio station and Bob restoring antiques. As he says, “I’m in paradise here, and I’m doing work I enjoy. It beats having to return.”

Resorts around the world need personnel, and in areas where the guests tend to be English speakers, hotels and restaurants look for people who can interact with these visitors. Naturally, knowing the local language is also essential.

I’ve even heard that Club Med, known previously as the haunt of the youthful, is accepting energetic older workers. Club Med is found throughout the world, in some of the most beautiful locales, including beaches, mountains, and cities. See their website at
www.clubmed.com
for information.

Some people don’t view their running away experience as a chance to kick back; instead, they seek out new challenges. If your idea of fun is to uncover and expand a new market overseas, then there are countless opportunities in developing countries. Though beyond the scope of this book, groups involved in international marketing can provide more input and real-world advice.

Remember that you don’t have to join the rat race again to work for yourself. One talented expat in France’s Loire Valley was a technical artist in his “first” life. He brought his computer with him. It proved handy for printing invitations to garden parties, but eventually he began putting it to productive use by studying graphics with an eye toward designing websites for businesses. Expats around the world have used real estate, renovation, and construction backgrounds to help other English speakers find and renovate their properties abroad, thus improving their own lifestyle. And, depending on your experience, there’s the possibility of converting your current job into a position that can be handled via telecommuting. In that case, New York, Seattle … and the English countryside are virtually the same.

If you want a job overseas, be persistent and use all your resources and networking skills. Check the Internet and international papers, such as the
International Herald Tribune
or your destination’s daily newspaper, plus help-wanted ads in journals relevant to your field, to see if there’s a need for representation overseas.

A host of specialty publications and websites also provide background and helpful suggestions. Do searches online for the most current information. Meanwhile, here are a few places to begin looking:

International Jobs: Where They Are and How to Get Them
by Eric Kocher.

Teaching English Abroad
by Susan Griffith.

International Employment Hotline
. A subscription-based newsletter/website. See
www.internationaljobs.org
.

Overseas Jobs Search. Online at
www.overseasjobs.com
(requires free membership registration).

Before taking a job overseas, consider that it will immerse you in the tax structure of the country involved. In some cases, those taxes will be considerably more than you, as a U.S. citizen, are accustomed to. For a minor job, you may not want to become enmeshed in the bureaucracy.

However, one IRS rule does provide a tax benefit. You may be able to exclude a certain amount of some earnings if you live and work overseas. You
may even have an employer-provided housing allowance excluded from income. Of course, you still may have to pay taxes to the country where you’re working. The rules are complex, so if you’re considering a job overseas, talk to your tax advisor to see how it will affect your financial position.

If you decide to return to the United States and a job, will you be able to? This depends on your credentials, keeping your skills up to date, and your ability to present your time off as a benefit to future employers.

If you have a good job and are able to take a leave of absence or sabbatical, your job will be waiting when you return. If you’re leaving your job and think it’s even remotely possible that you’ll want to return to work, lay the groundwork before you leave. Maintain a network of contacts in the States while you’re gone. Stay current with the news and skills necessary in your field. And accentuate the positive.

Your time off has made you more marketable rather than less. You’ve increased your confidence, learned new skills, and you have one ace in the hole—your overseas experience has given you a mystique that sets you apart from the pack. You may get a foot in the door for an interview just because some restless personnel director wants to know more about your adventure.

A history of good jobs prior to your sabbatical shows your ability and can reassure an employer. One long-term sabbatical after years of work does not show instability, as long as you can explain the time away professionally. Of course, you also do not want to appear to be someone who plans to take another sabbatical five months into the new job!

Your chances of finding a good position when you return improve if you have a special skill: for example, in computers, finance, health care, or marketing. But be realistic. If you’re at midlife now, you’ll be older when you return. So if work is a necessity, be reasonable about the chances of returning to a good job. My feeling is that, if you’re the type of person who had the spirit to go on an adventure overseas, you’re the type who’s flexible enough to find employment when you return. It just may not be the same fast-track job you might have worked your way up to before leaving. But would you really want that again?

Here are tips for maneuvering yourself back into the job market if you return to work in the States:

Thinking of your experiences in a positive light will give you the confidence to interview well and find a good job on your return. But the fact is you may not want to return to a steady job after life overseas. It’s difficult returning to the rigorous hours and short vacations that are common in the United States when you’ve lived in cultures where two-hour lunches and six weeks’ vacation are the norm.

Be flexible. You may discover better work overseas, even if that is, as it was for Bob, refinishing antiques, or for me, writing about it.

The most successful runaways are those who begin by planning what they want to achieve.
Achieve
? Did I dare use that goal-oriented word for what should be a thrilling time of freedom and adventure? Yes, because you now have a fabulous opportunity to follow your dream, but you must determine the goal and set a course for it.